Filling elements for use in filling systems or filling machines for filling packages, particularly bottles or similar containers, are known. These known filling elements fill bottles with liquid contents that contain solid particles. These solid particles typically include fruit fibers or fruit pieces.
In order for the valve body to correctly open the liquid valve, to close it again, and to do so in a way that is gentle on the materials, it is necessary for the stroke movement of the valve body to take place with a certain degree of precision. A known way to achieve this is to mount a valve tappet at two or more bearing positions that are offset axially from one another in such a way as to be axially displaceable in sliding guides. The sliding guides must be at a sufficient distance from one another to reliably prevent any operational faults. Such faults might otherwise occur as a result of, for example, tipping or tilting the valve tappet.
In known filling elements, the valve tappets are quite long. This results in greater axial dimensions for the filling element, The axial dimensions result both from having the bearing positions of the valve tappet be located outside of the product-carrying regions of the filling element, and from requiring the bearing positions to be at a sufficient distance from one another.
Also known are filling elements in which at least one of the sliding guides of the valve tappet is located within the product-carrying regions, i.e. within the liquid channel of the filling element. One disadvantage of this configuration is that solid constituents contained within the contents, for example fruit pieces, can be caught on this sliding guide and/or at narrowed regions caused by the sliding guide. This means that the filling element can become clogged. A clogged a filling element is difficult and time-consuming to clean, particularly at those regions or liquid paths that are narrowed by the guide.